STARKVILLE -- Boasting 12 players who were 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft picks or high school or junior college All-Americans, the Mississippi State baseball program's 2012-13 signing class has been ranked second nationally by Collegiate Baseball. The ranking is the second-highest for the Bulldogs by the newspaper based in Tucson, Ariz., which began ranking classes three decades ago in 1983.

STARKVILLE -- What a difference a year makes.
Last year, Troy was a double-digit underdog that scared Mississippi State in a second-half run before falling 30-24. At 6:30 p.m. Saturday (Fox Sports South), Troy won't be the plucky underdog looking for attention. The Trojans know they have it.

AUSTIN, Texas -- A few days after Alabama won the 2013 national championship, a University of Texas regent and a former regent talked with Nick Saban's agent about the possibility of the Crimson Tide coach replacing Longhorns coach Mack Brown, The Associated Press has learned.